The restaurant industry is continually looking for ways to improve performance and efficiency of customer service, from order taking to food serving and payment by the customer. While significant improvements have been made in each of these areas, the order taking process is still solely reliant on store associates, e.g., by servers taking orders at the counter or at the table in sit-down restaurants and by associates taking orders via speaker communication systems in drive-thru restaurants.
In sit-down restaurants, the order taking process is completely reliant on the waiter or waitress, and waiting for the waiter or waitress to come to your table to take your order may be quite frustrating. This is especially true in light of the fact that more and more families with busy schedules are going to neighborhood restaurants just to get the family fed so that the parents do not have to cook after having worked a full day (i.e., the parents need to get the kids fed with meals fast).
In drive-thru restaurants, the menu board and speaker communication system have existed for decades. The latest improvement to the menu board and speaker communication system is the use of an LCD display in order to display to the customer both the items being ordered and the total price for the order. Additionally, other recent attempts to improve the drive-thru process include: (1) use of call centers at which call center associates take orders from customers over the phone, (2) use of mobile order taking devices by store associates standing in the drive-through line, and (3) self-serving kiosks, each of which has disadvantages associated therewith. When call centers are used, the customer is still required to speak with the associates, which does not improve the speed or accuracy of the order taking. Similarly, when mobile order taking devices, are used, the customer is still required to speak with the associates, which, again, does not improve the speed or accuracy of the order taking. Furthermore, such devices are typically only used when the drive-thru line is long and, thus, the customer still must wait in the line before receiving the food. When self-serving kiosks are used, the customer still must wait in line to access the self-serving kiosk.